The present invention relates to a structure intended for restricting the movements in the main directions, i.e. longitudinal, rotary and torsional directions, of the leg-piece of an a boot with respect to the axis of an associated heel-piece in order to protect a motorcyclist""s lower limbs.
The dangers of severe injuries deriving from accidental impacts and falls are well known by people who practise motorcycling. The injuries can often involve the lower limbs, in particular the feet, and result from seemingly trivial manoeuvres or accidents, like setting a foot on the ground while the vehicle is travelling at high speed. In these circumstances the foot is subjected to severe stresses and, if it were not protected, quite severe consequences, such as fractures or other damages to the bones, and tearing of the Achilles tendon or of the ligaments in the region of malleoli would take place.
A need therefore exist of preventing, or at least limiting as far as possible, the said injuries which is satisfied by conventional boots comprising a rigid shell, enclosing the foot, and a leg-piece which is also rigidxe2x80x94enclosing the leg and hinged on the shell. During an accident these parts are obviously positioned between the limb to be protected and the obstacles encountered with the result of dampening the impacts and deflecting their action.
Even if motorcycle boots of this type are already available which greatly limit the possibility of bone fractures in the leg and foot and, when they are designed so as to surround at a sufficient extent the limb, are suitable for the protection against excessive torsional angles, no structure is presently available which is capable of restricting certain relative movements of the foot and leg during a motorcycling accident that lead to excessive bending angles between the foot and the leg, either in the forward or backward direction.
The main object of the present invention is therefore to disclose a structure for the use in a motorcycle boot which is capable of restricting the relative movements, especially the rotary movements, between the foot and the leg to be protected.
The above mentioned object is achieved by a structure according to the present invention comprising: at least one leg-piece, close to and hinged on at least one heel-piece forming part of a rigid shell, characterized in that, close to the heel and between the leg-piece and the heel-piece first hinging means are provided which are angularly movable at a substantially unlimited extent as well as axially movable between two stopping means, and second hinging means which are permitted only a restricted angular movement.